The Gamble Legacy
by Memories of a shadow
Summary: Before Clint Barton there was Outcome and before Outcome there was Brian Gamble...
1. Chapter 1

So…I just saw The Avengers and since then this crazy idea got stuck into my head. I know it's not the original Hawkeye story, I read that one on the net. But frankly Jeremy Renner plays a different type of Hawkeye, a more realistic one and I love it…so I saw SWAT again, read some things about the new Bourne movie (in which Jason Bourne doesn't show…although I would have loved to see Matt Damon and Jeremy Renner in the same movie, guess you can't have everything) and started this. Not sure if it's a one-shot, this depends on what crazy idea comes to my head…so I hope you enjoy this

I apologize in advance for all the misspelling, I write this at about 2 am in the morning and my English is not so great anyway

* * *

**Disclaimer**….I don't own anything and specially not Jeremy Renner so don't sue me

* * *

The moment Nick Fury had read the file he realized he needed the best man to handle this asset. He needed Coulson for this.

When he was given the mission to create from scratch S.H.I.E.L.D. the first person he enlisted was Coulson. The man was the best in his field. He was loyal, dedicated and a damn good handler. He remembered the first time he had met Coulson was during an extraction mission. The agent had managed to turn a hostile ex Mossad turned weapons and drug dealer in what proved to be a very loyal and valuable CIA asset in a record time of 30 min.  
During that time the S.H.I.E.L.D. initiative didn't even exist in the mind of its creators. Fury had been impressed and asked that the agent to be transferred under his command.  
When S.H.I.E.L.D. was initiated Coulson had been directly involved in the whole process specially with recruiting new agents. Most where people he had worked with before and knew personally. CIA, FBI, Interpol, US Army even police officers. Those where the people he trusted. Still even if those where good with lots of training and experience he needed specialized field agents. People with that kind of expertise where not so easy to find even with his resources.  
So when the Outcome files reached his hands he immediately recognized the potential gold mine he possessed. Lots of files where classified and lots of information was deleted before. There where reports that had been completely erased or grossly falsified.  
The truth was that he knew very little about the program and most of it he knew from the press releases that followed the scandal. Officially the program did not exist and all the Intel related to it where supposed to be destroyed. Well, supposedly.  
After the scandal had erupted in the press and all the dirt had come to surface everyone cut their losses. Allot of people where thrown to the sharks even if they where not related at all with the program.  
The man that started all the craziness disappeared like a shadow. He was a dead man. The guy managed to piss off some very influential people and break down almost entirely the Agency like a house of cards. Lots of people lost everything, their jobs, freedom even lives.  
Two whole years had passed since the scandal, the press had gotten tired of the story and everyone thought Aaron Cross was dead. He couldn't be alive after all this time and considering that at least 8 different agencies where out looking for him officially, and who knew how many unofficially  
So when Coulson brought him the file he was more then surprised.  
Apparently the man almost every secret agency in the world was looking for had been captured in a very remote area near in Brazil. There had been couple of "incidents" with the Brazilian authorities but the details where unknown and most of the rumors that where circulating around the incident where so far fetched Fury was sure they where only fantasies. What he knew for a fact was that the man had killed in almost 2 hours time more then 100 people in what appeared to be madness driven massacre against a general with heavy connections with a local drug cartel.  
He just invaded a twenty room mansion at the outskirts of Salvador and started to shoot; and didn't stop until every single person there had gained more then half their weight in bullets.  
The fact that he had been captured afterwards was only stupid luck. Cross had been wounded and attracted the attention of local authorities. By the time they captured him he was almost dead anyway. He could have just died in a Brazilian prison that day but one of the police officers was actually an informant for the Agency. The general had been one of their assets so the guy that killed him was bound to attract some attention. SHIELD agents had intercepted the transmission. An extraction team from the Agency arrived in six hours; the SHIELD team arrived in less then three.

Of course the guy was almost dead when they got him. He'd been shot in the leg, somewhere in the left lung and one bullet got stuck inside his brain. It was a miracle he was still alive. They couldn't operate the head wound until they brought him in a secure facility in US. It took the team almost 4 hours to deliver. At the end they thought they where delivering a dead body.

From the moment he was awake he didn't say anything. The doctors said that the head wound could have caused a total shut down of the brain. He was a vegetable in their opinion. They fed him, walked him, he didn't respond to any stimuli.

But Fury knew that underneath that, Aaron Cross was very much conscious and just waiting for the perfect opportunity to escape. So he waited, slowly decreased the security, not to drastic so to not raise any suspicions, just left a small opening and waited for the other man to make his move.

Two weeks after he was brought back Aaron Cross escaped, or at least tried. Although still wounded, with a limping leg he succeeded in stealing a guard's uniform and actually walking outside the hospital doors.

Fury was very much impressed.

And now waiting behind the double mirror outside the interrogation room, he sends his best man to break him and turn him Aaron Cross into a SHIELD asset.

Coulson had a troublesome customer this time.

* * *

Don't be shy and tell me what you think


	2. Chapter 2

I didn't expect my inbox to be full of fanfiction alerts when I logged in…thanks.

Well although I agree Gamble is an "insert M rating language here" for most of his time I actually enjoyed his character more then Street but they didn't actually explained allot of things in the movie so it left me a little bit disappointed…plus I really hated the way they killed him in the movie…and then I saw Dahmer …and wow….

So this chapter is a dialogue based one, I'm still experimenting so don't flame me

* * *

Again I don't own Jeremy Renner if I did he would have killed all the Avengers and ruled the world (just kidding don't sue)

* * *

Good morning Mr. Cross, I am Agent Phil Coulson from the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division.

That's a mouthful, you should change that name !

Yes, so I've been told, we are working on it.

Hmm

So what should I call you, Aaron Cross or Kenneth Gibson?

You shouldn't, I should be dead right now, why have you kept me alive?

Well Mr. Cross, let's stick do this for now; let's assume that we kept you alive because we found it useful at least for now.

So what happens when me being alive stops being useful for your Stupid Huge Idiocy E…

Please Mr. Cross there is no need for us to go on that direction

Let me tell you what, Agent. I don't like people threatening me. So better tell me what you want or put a bullet in my brain already and let's get over with it.

I'm sure that would be the best course of action but I'm not the one to decide on what to put in whose brain. And from what I read in your file it seems that a bullet inside your brain don't exactly kill you although I'm pretty sure it's just a fluke and the third time it would work.

Third time, what the hell are you talking about, I only been shoot once

Oh…so that's what they told you?

What who told me? What are you talking about?

Well Mr. Cross I believe my time is off right now, I do have other duties to attend to

You son of a …what the hell you know and not telling?

Now, now Mr. Cross, I'm pretty sure the head wound in you brain didn't cause amnesia as well. So let's make a deal. I'll leave you think about it really hard, and next time we meet, we'll continue this discussion in a more friendlier manner. During that time please make sure to recuperate and heal your wounds properly, and no more escape attempts. We wouldn't want you to injure yourself more then you already are, won't we

The door shuts with a loud bang leaving Aaron screaming after Coulson and fighting to get out of his restrains

* * *

Don't hate me because this chapter too short, I'll continue with the story as soon as I can. Again thank you for the reviews and encouragement


	3. Chapter 3

WOW ...thanks for the reviews guys I'm glad you like it

So another "experimental" chapter...just fount out that the movies comes in August :((((...August...I can't wait that long ...I have too see it now...sishhh

* * *

So I don't own him...I wish I would :)))

* * *

He realized what was going on. His brain remembered all the sensations and all feeling before. A sickening feeling of deja vu, anticipating the images that where flowing thou his mind. Still he didn't exactly know what was going to happen, it was locked inside him. He knew it was there but couldn't see it. He felt frustrated and agitated; he could hear his own hart beating in rapid succession like a fast drummer. It made him sick and dizzy.  
Still he couldn't remember, he didn't know why it all felt so familiar to him, why he remembered feeling the same. His body did but his brain didn't. On a conscious level he realized there was something missing something really important.  
After the short "interrogation" he had been transferred to some type of secure room, well not so much as a room but more likely a prison cell. He had a small bed, a toilet, sink and a shower. It was a small space and the first thing he noticed was the lack of a window.

The only light was the artificial one that he couldn't control. There was no switch. They where just opening and closing the light at somewhat regular intervals. But he knew it was only to disorient him. There was no night or day they where just playing with his senses. The white walls where covered in soft material. So he wouldn't hurt himself, maybe. There where no noises the whole room was soundproof, still from time to time his years will start ringing. For lack of sounds or other methods they used. The only thing he could hear right now was the sound of his breath and his own hart beating. He was lying down on his bed with his eyes closed and trying to sleep. Although the lights where on he was trying the fight it and to convince his body to listen to his own brain and not his senses.  
He recognized the method. It was supposed to disorient him, to make him forget, to make him more compliant to the programming, to make him shut down his defences.

And it was really hard to resist it. When they first captured him he realized they where professionals, plus the fact that they got there before the Agency team somewhat made him nervous. The fact that he wasn't tortured drugged or threatened in any way since then scared him more. And although he realized he had to keep his mind clear it was really hard to resist them

The truth was that he didn't remember much…this past two years have been more like a cat and mouse game, always hiding, a new name a new identity every couple of weeks, he didn't even knew who he was anymore.

Aaron, Kenneth those where only names, tags, hollow shells that didn't even sound familiar to him, just like a small town you will pass in your road. You see the small white houses, the well kept little gardens with small white wooden fences, the two stories city hall that is the largest building in the whole city, the small dinner in which everyone knows everyone, the red brick church. You brain memorized all of this while you pass without stopping, and when you exit the town you don't even remember what it looked like…it was just another small town just like the others, but you can't remember it, and you don't even what to remember it because it's to unimportant to you. It doesn't make any difference anyway so why would you.

He didn't remember too much before the Program either, just flashes. A tall building here, a pool table there, people laughing, a train…that was the scariest memory of them …darkness, then a train, then a loud noise, pain and cold. He didn't knew what they meant, he didn't even knew if they where his own memories. He had others as well, strange ones. They didn't mean much to him though. He stopped thinking about them long time ago. They only kept his mind occupied and he couldn't concentrate on running while thinking about his past. Loosing concentration meant dead for him so he couldn't afford to stop and think.

But here, inside the white little room they kept haunting him and he couldn't help but think about them. What was he like before the Program? He must have had a life before, he must have had a name, Aaron or Kenneth where not it. Those didn't sound familiar in any way. Although he had been really sure at first he realized it was just a small part of the programming. Layer after layer his identity had been rewritten countless times. He didn't know what was at the beginning but he knew there was something other then what the Agency had told him.

And then he realized why the sensations where so familiar to him. This has happened before. The white walls, the lack of sound, the lights. They had done this before already to him, he knew why his body responded the way he did to it, he was struggling to remember, the human mind is not like a hard drive you can delete and rewrite whenever you like it. It fights back.

They didn't torture him or threatened him because they didn't need to. They where only reprogramming him, like a damn machine, they where deleting his old fragmented self to make him into what they wanted again.

At he knew it was already too late

* * *

Hope you guys like it


End file.
